Luxury housing developments for seniors have emerged in Massachusetts in recent years. Erickson Retirement Communities completed Brooksby Village in Peabody (above) in March, and Brickstone Properties wants to build a similar project in Sharon.
In what is expected to be one of the largest high-end senior living communities to be built in Massachusetts, an Andover-based developer is moving forward with plans to construct 1,800 homes for people 62 and older on a 340-acre parcel in Sharon.
Brickstone Properties wants to build the senior housing development on roughly 40 acres, leaving untouched more than 250 acres of the property known as Rattlesnake Hill – a wooded site that residents and community leaders have been trying to preserve for at least two decades.
It would be the first senior housing project for Brickstone Properties, a company known primarily for developing office properties in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, as well as luxury high-rise condominiums in Atlanta.
Explaining why Brickstone Properties selected Sharon for the community, company President Martin Spagat said last week, “It’s just a lovely community. To create what we envision, we need a large site. There are not that many large sites available in Massachusetts that are in desirable locations.”
Spagat said his firm wants to create an upscale senior housing community that “makes people feel good.”
“We’re trying to avoid an institutional situation,” he noted.
While the developer must submit formal plans to town officials, company officials have started meeting with various boards and earlier this month shared details about the project at a public meeting.
Some residents were surprised and disappointed when they discovered that the former owners of the property, the Striar family, had sold the land to Brickstone. The town had tried to buy the land twice, and in its most recent attempt secured a private developer as a partner to finalize the purchase when the sale occurred.
“We’re shocked at the scope and size of this proposed development,” said Leslie Koval, who is president of the Rattlesnake Hill Open Space Association.
Margaret Arguimbeau, chairman of Sharon’s Conservation Commission, said she is not “particularly thrilled” by the proposal.
“It’s just disappointing,” she said. “It’s one of the last significant large holdings within the town.”
The proposed project, which would be built over a 10-year-span, will feature three different areas that will each consist of six 8- to 11-story buildings with one- and two-bedroom units. Each of the areas also will include a building with dining facilities, and other amenities such as shops. The areas will be connected by a golf course.
‘A Hot Issue’
Residents will pay a deposit for the units that is fully refundable when the unit is vacated, as well as monthly fees that will cover maintenance, meals and other expenses. The average age of the residents is expected to be in the mid-70s, according to Spagat.
Demographic trends in Massachusetts and the area surrounding Sharon point to a need for such a community, according to Brickstone. The number of seniors living within a 20-mile radius of Sharon is estimated to increase by about 28 percent by 2020, according to research done by a company that Brickstone hired. In Massachusetts, the number of people 62 and older is supposed to grow to more than 1.7 million by 2030.
The Brickstone project will be designed as a community where residents can age in place, explained Margaret Murphy, a real estate consultant who is working with Brickstone Properties. Various support services will be available to residents for additional fees.
The community is expected to draw residents from Sharon and surrounding communities, as well as seniors who have retired and relocated to other parts of the state and country and want to return to the area, according to Murphy. It also is likely to appeal to people with aging parents who live in the area and are “looking for a place where their parents can live that’s appropriate,” she said.
At least two other similar large-scale, luxury housing developments that are exclusively for seniors have emerged in Massachusetts in recent years. Maryland-based Erickson Retirement Communities completed Brooksby Village in Peabody, which has 1,349 apartments, in March. Erickson is also in the process of building Linden Ponds in Hingham, a community that will feature 1,750 apartments once it is completed. A total of 568 apartments already have been completed and another 213 are under construction at Linden Ponds.
Residents of those communities pay an entrance deposit, as well as monthly maintenance fees.
In Sharon, Brickstone officials have said the community they are planning was devised to maximize open space and disturb as little space as possible.
Spagat said only about 40 acres of the site will be covered with housing. Another portion of the land will be used for the golf course, and approximately 50 acres will be set aside as public open space for Sharon residents. The remaining land would be undisturbed.
But longtime residents have concerns about the impact of such a large number of housing units on Rattlesnake Hill, which abuts 100 acres of existing conservation land and is adjacent to Borderland State Park.
“Most people in town that I’ve talked to feel it’s in the wrong place,” said Koval.
According to Koval, the site is too far from public transportation and not easily accessible to a commercial center or major highway. She described the roads surrounding the property as small, winding country roads that couldn’t accommodate heavy traffic.
And Koval worries that the development would be a complete disruption to the habitat.
“They are building in the midst of extensive wetlands,” she said. “They will have to prove that the wastewater from this project will not affect the wetlands and the private wells of the neighbors who only have private wells for drinking water.”
Rita Corey, a member of the Sharon Friends of Conservation, agreed that water use and discharge will be a “hot issue.”
Rattlesnake Hill was identified as a key parcel to protect in an open space and recreation plan in 1987. In 2000, when the owners of Rattlesnake Hill wanted to build a gated golf course community on the site, the Conservation Commission proposed purchasing the land. Town meeting voted in favor of the town spending $10 million to buy the land, with additional financial assistance from the state. But in 2001, town voters rejected a Proposition 2 1/2 override to purchase the land.
In July 2002, the property owner applied for a comprehensive permit under the state’s anti-snob zoning law, known as Chapter 40B, to build 250 homes. The town’s Zoning Board of Appeals approved a comprehensive permit for fewer units – 120 – in December 2003, but the developer appealed the decision to the state’s Housing Appeals Committee.
In the meantime, the town was still trying to round up funds to purchase the parcel. Late in 2003, Town Meeting again approved spending $7.5 million to buy Rattlesnake Hill, expecting the state to provide another $7.5 million to pay for the property. Town voters agreed to an override in March of the following year to buy the land. Even though the state had earmarked $12 million for the purchase in the state environmental bond bill four years ago, state leaders decided not fund it.
The town then sought and found a private developer with which to partner in order to buy the site. The town selected Mirrione Realty Corp. of Easton, which agreed to build 89 homes for people 55 and older on only about 28 to 30 acres of the property, explained Arguimbau, of Sharon’s Conservation Commission.
“The rest [of the land] would have been preserved,” Arguimbau said. “When [the town] managed to get a partner, we thought that things were getting squared away Â… The ability to borrow the money and the willingness of the partner still exist, so we’ll see what happens.”
Spagat told Banker & Tradesman last week that at this point Brickstone is in the process of meeting with local officials and community leaders to get their input.
“It’s important for us to address all of the concerns of the community,” he said.
